Buckhead area may get a Center for Hard to Recycle Materials

There is a chance Buckhead residents will have access to a CHaRM-like permanent Center for Hard to Recycle Materials sometime in the future, according to Atlanta City Councilman Alex Wan.

Wan, making an infrequent visit Tuesday night to a Neighborhood Planning Unit-B meeting, said in response to a question from the audience that there are some initial talks taking place about locating such a facility in north Atlanta—possibly in an area such as Armour Circle in south Buckhead or off of Cheshire Bridge Road.

Wan had mentioned to the audience that the city’s recycling vendor does pick up glass containers—which has become an issue with many recycling vendors–and the glass can be placed right in the blue recycling carts. The city’s vendor will separate out the glass so that it goes through a legitimate glass recycling process and does not end up in a landfill, said Wan.

A building on the south Atlanta location for the new permanent CHaRM recycling facility.

He also urged those at the meeting to call 311 and report any instances where the recycling trucks are spilling glass pieces on the roadways.

That prompted the question about the possibility of north Atlanta getting a CHaRM facility, so that north Atlanta residents don’t have to drive to south Atlanta to recycle difficult to handle materials such as glass and hazardous household waste.

Wan co-sponsored with City Councilwoman Carla Smith thelegislation to open CHaRM, which serves as a year-round recycling and hazardous waste collection facility for all city of Atlanta residents.

The center, which is located at 1110 Hill Street SE, is operated by LiveThrive Atlanta. The days and hours of operation are Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Saturday 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Wan told the NPU-B audience that the CHaRM facility has been very popular in its first year of operation. He said the center records the ZIP codes of the people who bring items to the center and a lot of those people come from Buckhead. So, he knows there is an interest in recycling among Buckhead residents.

The south Atlanta CHaRM facility is on public donated land and a couple of city departments, including Public Works, help support the facility’s operations.

CHaRM actually is an outgrowth of a yearly ecoDepot one-day recycling event started by Councilwoman Smith some 13 years ago at Turner Field. A one-day event that for a few years was held in Buckhead—sponsored by Livable Buckhead and the City Council offices of Howard Shook and Yolanda Adrean—also showed the need for a

City Councilman Alex Wan

continuous program to deal with hard to recycle materials.

Councilmember Smith invites Atlanta residents to join her for ecodepot, Atlanta’s largest recycling event, that will take place from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 23rd at the CHaRM facility. Registration is required and has already begun for this event.

The idea of opening a year-round recycling facility for residents grew out of Smith’s commitment to hosting an annual large scale one-day recycling event starting in 2003.

The one-day event allows city residents to dispose of recyclable materials and divert thousands of pounds of household hazardous waste, and other hard to recycle items from Atlanta’s water supplies and landfills.

Atlanta Dogwood Festival’s Eco-Village – April 8th – 10th, 2016: Live Thrive Atlanta’s 5th year to organize the Eco-Village. The Village is filled with vendors sharing items made from organic or recycled materials and sharing sustainable practices.

Kids Recycle Day at CHaRM – April 16th, 2016, 8am – 2pm: A great family day at CHaRM with kids teaching kids the importance of reuse and recycling.